Seraph Brass uplifts female musicians in Concert Series
Throughout the concert, the quintet took time between pieces to emphasize its broader mission of strengthening female representation in classical music.
“Our mission is to highlight and uplift the artistry of women,” Atieh said. “We do that first of all by being women. Another thing we’re passionate about is education, so we make sure to play for as many students as possible so that students of all shapes and colors and sizes see women of all shapes and colors and sizes playing instruments of all shapes and colors and sizes.”
The quintet’s penultimate piece, “Virgo” by Catherine McMichael, was meant to evoke space and the grandeur of the universe. Atieh emphasized that the musical composition of “Virgo” mirrored the illusion of proximity in the night sky.
“One way composers make music sound cosmic and astral is by writing notes that are really close to each other,” Atieh said. “That’s interesting because when you look up at the stars, they look like they’re really close together, but they’re infinitely apart. It’s sort of a metaphor for all of us: we have a whole wide world, but we can’t help but come together in spaces like these and build relationships and families like our own constellations.”
Members of the quintet also led Orchestra classes throughout the week and conducted a morning masterclass and brass workshop with Harker orchestra and jazz band students on Thursday. They also spoke in a career talk for students initiated by DEI Director Patricia Burrows on Friday Feb. 27 before their performance. The quintet offered insights into finding work in the music world, highlighting both the difficulty of securing work in the arts and the importance of networking, persistence and drawing from intrinsic motivation in light of adversity.
“My teacher always told me that success is when opportunity meets preparation,” Atieh said. “Lauren went out of her way to meet [Seraph Brass founder] Mary. Morgen shuffled her schedule around to make this one concert work. You can work on both — you can be prepared, and you can also seek out as many opportunities as possible. And when the stars align, when your preparation meets the level of the opportunity that you’re offering, that’s when things work out for you.”
Hart, who co-founded the Concert Series in 2010, emphasized the special influence that professionals can have on Harker’s musicians.
“The quintet members were here intellectually and emotionally, and they got some cool music going with the kids,” Hart said. “They sat in and played the pieces the students were playing, which is amazing because when kids get next to great musicians, special things can happen. When they can hear a professional play, it can change their lives.”
For younger brass players, the one-on-one coaching was particularly impactful. French horn player Benjamin Li (10) reflected that working directly with Atieh offered new insight into performance techniques.
“As a brass player, but also as a person in general, it’s so cool to hear them play at such a high level,” Benjamin said. “The four horn players in Orchestra were also able to work with the horn player from Seraph Brass one-on-one. She gave some really helpful comments, and it showed me a new perspective on horn playing that I hadn’t seen before.”
Timothy Deng (12), who plays clarinet in the orchestra, observed that the quintet’s visit also helped strengthen the ensemble’s cohesion, especially given the orchestra’s imbalance between string and brass players.
“Seraph Brass working with us was helpful for us as an ensemble because, as a student body, we have a disproportionate amount of string players, and we just don’t have as many brass players,” Timothy said. “They really emphasized communicating nonverbally, and checking in to see that you’re coming in on time, in sync and with the same tone. That brought some unity to our practice that we don’t usually have.”